


We Are Gathered Here Today

by Annehiggins



Series: Not This Omegaverse [2]
Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-11
Updated: 2012-08-11
Packaged: 2017-11-11 22:20:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/483483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annehiggins/pseuds/Annehiggins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Steve and Tony have a conversation; Pepper and Phil get married; and Peter is conceived. Set before the <em>Epilogue</em> of the main story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Are Gathered Here Today

**Author's Note:**

> I've had some requests for sequels, but one person asked specifically for a pre-epilogue tale. So here is the story of Peter's conception. LauratheLittle this is for you!

[ ](http://pics.livejournal.com/anne_higgins/pic/00014hz4/)

Tony Stark Rogers' favorite among the Avengers tended to vary mostly depending on who was least willing to kill him for whatever he'd done to earn their collective wrath or who had saved his shapely omega-backside from a doom he was far too pretty to suffer. (Of course, Steve was always his favorite but he was his alpha-husband and that was a given.) But in reality, his true day-to-day choice was their SHIELD liaison, Agent Phil Coulson.

He'd sort of loved Phil from the beginning given he'd almost gotten himself killed trying to protect Tony's then assistant, Pepper Potts. The two of them had started dating shortly after the agent had gotten out of the hospital, and had grown even closer once Tony had made her CEO freeing Pepper to do the easier job of looking after a multi-billion dollar international company instead of Tony.

Technically 'babysitting' Tony was still part of Phil's job, but he'd cheerfully abdicated most of the responsibility to Steve, who was going to do it anyway since he was fucking protective in addition to awesomely handsome. And somewhere in there Tony had stopped pretending 'Agent' was the guy's first name and had started calling him Phil. Okay, so it wasn't vague. He'd opted to admit he really liked the guy after the whole Loki-Chitauri-invasion thing and Fury lying his ass off about Loki having killed Phil.

Tony had walked into the hospital with a new vintage set of Captain America trading cards – signed by the big guy himself – to replace the one Fury had destroyed by soaking them in Coulson's blood. Pepper had been at her boyfriend's bedside and had looked up when Tony entered the room. Phil was slower, not because he was pale and weak from almost dying – although he'd been both – but because he'd been smiling at Pepper like she was everything anyone could ever want. Tony had cleared his throat and said, "Just so you know, from now on I'm calling you Phil."

It had been damned presumptuous for an omega, even a genius-billionaire-married-philanthropist one, but Phil had smiled. "Good to see you, Tony." And just like that they were on a first-name basis – off the job. On the job it was Mr. Rogers and Agent Coulson. It was just the way Phil rolled and Tony'd opted to respect that.

He'd also waited until Phil was out of the hospital and back on his feet before Tony had walked into the Stark Tower suite Phil shared with Pepper and had told them both he was Iron Man. An 'I knew that' expression had crossed Phil's face, but Pepper had gone pale and almost fainted. Then she'd tried to kill Tony for keeping it a secret/risking his life that way (for the record betas could be fucking protective, too.) Phil had stopped her – kind of the reason Tony had told them together. It had been a great, if weird bonding moment.

Somehow it had led to dinner with Steve joining them. That had led to other couples dates and before Tony knew it; barring Avengers-level disasters – which happened with annoying frequency – they all tended to go out once a week. Sometimes the others or combinations of the others joined them since all of them were paired off – at least they were once Bruce Banner had met Jane Foster's assistant, Darcy Lewis – but at least the four of them always did something couple-esque.

Partly it was because they all genuinely enjoyed each other's company, but there was an ulterior motive. Phil had started dating Pepper when she'd still been Tony's assistant. As awesome as she'd been at the job, her brushes with the media had been limited to the job itself and mostly as a buffer between the media and Tony. Now she was CEO of Stark Industries, not Tony – he thanked God or whatever at least once a day that she'd never made him take the job back once the business world stopped being hysterical over the fact he was an omega and remembered he was still a genius. A few cases aside – most notably Tony's – being a CEO of a major company did not necessarily mean life in the spotlight, but it did when it came to Stark Industries. They were literally changing the world with their clean energy innovations which tended to draw attention even before they did all the PR song and dances.

Tony was still the media darling and most prominent face of SI, but there weren't many who didn't know Pepper's name or couldn't recognize her face. And whoever dated her got his picture taken with some regularity. It didn't go along well with the bland anonymity of a SHIELD agent. Of course, neither did life with or as an Avenger. With one alien invasion Natasha and Clint had gone from SHIELD's top undercover agents to celebrities with their faces adorning posters on the walls of many a home. Phil didn't appear on any of those, but every time the Avengers went into action or had to attend an event he was there and ended up with his photo splashed all over the Internet. Hell, he even had his own fan page on Facebook.

So the weekly or as 'often as the crazy-ass world would allow them' nights-on-the-town helped Phil acclimate to his new reality while most of the attention remained on Tony and Steve. Tony would have insisted on Natasha and Clint joining them for the same reason, but they'd always had a flashy style within their covert operations so they'd known all along those days had been numbered and 'retiring' to become an Avenger was certainly preferable to taking one assignment too many and ending up with a blown cover.

All of which boiled down to one thing – Phil Coulson was one of Tony's friends as well as the Avengers' handler. It was normally the latter that led Phil to come down to Tony's workshop and he resisted the urge to sigh when he walked in. An emergency meant a summons for all from JARVIS. A visit normally indicated Tony had done something or Fury had decided something and Steve was needed to deal with either of them. Given Steve was an overprotective alpha who adored his omega mate, his star-spangled ass was normally found in Tony's vicinity.

"Morning," Steve said setting aside his sketchbook. "Fury need something?"

Phil smiled. "No, actually. I need to speak to Tony."

"I didn't do it!" He probably had thrown that denial out too quickly as both alphas stared at him, but damnit, he'd been working in the lab all week – all totally legitimate work – so, no, whatever it was, he had not done it

"It's personal."

What? Oh. Tony beamed with his 'see I _was_ totally innocent' smile. "What can I do for you?"

"I want your permission."

Permission? That was interesting. SHIELD tended toward Tony's personal philosophy of 'better to ask for forgiveness than permission.' "For what?"

"Well, your blessing really. I want to ask Pepper to marry me."

Tony blinked, his brain trying to process what he'd just heard, but even for a genius it was hard to accept. He was an omega. Phil was an alpha while Pepper was a beta putting them both higher in status than Tony despite the whole rich-genius-etc. thing. Officially he couldn't even make decisions for his own company yet here stood one of the finest alphas he'd ever known asking for Pepper's hand like Tony's opinion mattered in a way no omega's was ever supposed to.

Phil seemed to get how overwhelming the question was because he simply waited with his patented pleasant, unassuming smile on his face.

He cleared his throat, then managed to say, "Pep deserves the best. I've known that was you for a long time. You have my blessing."

His smile broadened a touch – a grin for anyone else. "Thank you," he said, then left, no doubt headed upstairs to Pepper's office to pop the question.

Steve's arms wrapped around him and he leaned back against his husband's chest. "He's a good man."

"He is." And because he was, of course, Pepper said yes.

*

Phil asked Steve to be his best man while Clint, Bruce and Thor all agreed to be groomsmen. No surprises there, but Tony had hoped Pepper would ask him to do a gender-neutral turn as her 'matron of honor.' She asked Natasha instead. Jane, Darcy and Maria Hill got the nod as her bridesmaids and Tony? She asked him to give her away.

It was ludicrous. He was unrelated, younger and an omega. Dumbest idea he'd ever heard. Told her that right before he said hell, yes. And he might have sniffled a little in there, too.

*

It took six months to put together the sort of wedding worthy of Pepper Potts and Phil Coulson. While it would be lavish – if he was giving away the bride, he was damned well paying for the wedding and he didn't do non-lavish – the guest list wasn't huge with a general agreement by all that it was for real friends and family. But Pepper had her heart set on St. Bartholomew's Church arguably one of the ten favorite spots to marry in New York City. It had been something of a miracle that they'd had a slot open so soon.

Not an idiot or a masochist or even particularly good at event planning, Tony excused himself from any of it beyond paying the bills, getting fitted for his tux and making any calls that needed the clout of his bank balance behind them. Otherwise nothing much changed other than Steve's old suite became the favored hideout for the men in the Tower when the women fixed their best 'get lost there's planning to do' glares on them.

It didn't take long for Tony to decide that while the entire group loved each other and hanging out together, sometimes the guys and gals needed time apart. He talked to Phil and Pepper about it, then set about turning Phil's old suite into a ladies-only 'clubhouse' to correspond to the upgrades he'd made for the 'man cave' floor. He was in the middle of rewiring the sound system for the clubhouse when he had JARVIS turn on the television screen that filled one wall. "Just flip through the channels, three second delay," he said as he settled in to do any fine tuning required.

Focused on sound-quality, he really wasn't paying much attention to the actual sounds themselves until the words 'Stark-Rogers wedding anniversary."

What? "JARVIS stop there," he said turning his full attention to _The Daily Show_ and Jon Stewart using his typical wit to rip the networks for devoting a good chunk of yesterday's news cycle to Tony's marriage because yesterday had been the one-year anniversary. He'd forgotten. Deliberately. A year-ago yesterday, Justin Hammer had drugged him and tried to rape him at his omega ball. Steve had saved him and had accidentally imprinted with Tony, then had done the honorable thing and married him. Tony had been unconscious through most of it. Not exactly the stuff to inspire breaking out the champagne and party favors.

No, Tony's real wedding anniversary was a few days after the Loki-invasion/first-Avengers-mission one. That's when he and Steve had made love for the first time and bonded. Put his celebration months from now, and he'd almost forgotten those who knew _of_ them instead of _knew_ them would think otherwise.

Morbidly curious he watched the clips. Most of them were unflattering, centering around relief that Rogers had managed to 'tame' Stark instead of Stark corrupting an American icon. And damn, it was a good thing Steve hadn't heard any of this because at the very least, he'd have put his fist through the screen. Then something happened Tony never, ever expected. The clip switched over to Fox's morning show, _Fox & Friends_ – a favorite target of Stewart's – and … something Steve Doocy said almost made sense.

"JARVIS locate and play the full segment that's from."

A moment later, Jon dissolved into Doocy sitting with Gretchen Carlson and Brian Kilmeade as they discussed Tony's marriage. A good portion of it was a repeat of the usual tamed-versus-corrupted crap, but then he said, "And what about a baby? Stark may be a lot of things, but he's also one of the greatest minds of the millennium. Isn't it his duty to make certain his line continues?"

It was the first time anyone had mentioned his name in a remotely pro-baby sentence and Carlson and Kilmeade quickly took up the 'Stark would make a terrible father' line, but Doocy didn't disagree. Instead he said what had caught Tony's attention. "Steve Rogers would be a great father." And … he would.

**Four Months Later**

Steve stalked into Tony's lab his jaw clenched in anger. He'd been out of the city for almost a week on an assignment with Natasha and Clint that had required the more stealth-capable members of the team. The timing had been terrible. Phil and Pepper had flown to Japan to meet with government officials about replacing the nuclear plants with arc reactors; Bruce was off on a vacation with Darcy – one from which they all expected them to come back engaged –; while Thor had been called back to Asgard the morning Steve's team had shipped out. It had left Tony alone for the first time since Steve had met him.

That was enough to make any alpha bristle, but it made one married to a Stark vibrate with worry. Tony'd had his nose in a project for weeks before the mission, and Steve had been forced more than once to physically haul him away to eat or sleep. He'd made Tony promise to take care of himself while he was gone, had stood there refusing to even go until Tony had programmed JARVIS to remind him when it was time to take care of himself not his project. But according to the AI it had been 72 hours since Tony had slept and almost as long since he'd eaten.

He'd expected to find Tony elbows deep in electronics or at least holograms. Instead he was at his drawing table. Asleep. A polite way of saying 'passed out from exhaustion.' He tried to focus on that, to hang onto his righteous anger a few minutes longer, but as he lifted Tony up into his arms his omega roused enough to snuggle up and whisper, "Steve," before falling back asleep.

God, he loved this aggravating pain-in-the-ass. Made him understand why some alphas favored spanking disobedient omegas and not in the way it made Clint waggle his eyebrows hopefully when Natasha swatted him. And he absolutely would turn Tony over his knee if he thought the omega would respond with outrage, but Tony didn't have enough love in his background for a literal firm hand to be anything but abuse. It would make him go all big eyes and heartbroken the way he always did when Steve didn't carefully chose his words during an argument.

"Is he all right?" Natasha asked when he walked out of the elevator with his omega in his arms.

"Exhausted, and I don't even want to know what his blood sugar is."

Clint smiled and brushed Tony's hair off his forehead. "So same old, same old."

Steve couldn't help but smile in turn. "Unfortunately."

Clint gave Steve's shoulder a squeeze. "Hey, I can't sleep well when my alpha's gone either," he admitted with a soft glance at Natasha, "and I can usually drift off anytime, anyplace."

While Tony was a notorious insomniac and an omega, who, even if he defied most stereotypes, was hard-wired to feel uneasy when his alpha wasn't near. "I get it," he answered. "I just hate it when he doesn't take care of himself."

Natasha pressed a kiss to first Tony's then Steve's cheek. "I think it's time we all got some sleep," she said, drawing Clint toward the elevator for the brief trip to their own suite.

"Night," he answered before the doors slid closed behind them. Which was sort of a stupid thing to say since it was the middle of the afternoon. "Avengers and mad scientists, we aren't the best at keeping sane hours." He shook his head, then pressed a kiss to his omega's head. "And you're both." He sighed and headed for the bedroom.

Tired after a long mission, Steve didn't have much trouble dropping off himself, but alphas slept less than betas and omegas while super-soldiers didn't need much sleep at all, so he woke in the early hours of the next morning. With no pressing need to be anywhere else, he showered, then got back in bed, spooning Tony until around 9 when the omega woke up.

Steve nuzzled Tony's neck drawing a pleased murmur from his husband, but then Tony froze. "Steve?"

Amused he answered, "Yes."

"Oh, shit, are you mad?"

"Yes." He softened the answer with another neck nuzzle. "Now get your pretty ass in the shower while I make you breakfast."

Or rather two of them. First he made one of those green smoothies Tony favored and took it to him while he was still in the shower. Made him drink every drop while he stood there with his arms crossed glowering. It got some nutrition into him and earned Steve a lowered, submissive gaze that almost had him climbing into the shower to take his errant omega, but he was smart enough to know that's what Tony wanted, so he simply took the glass and went back the kitchen to start scrambling eggs.

It had taken less than a week of living in the Tower for them to all settle into a routine. Breakfast was always in Steve and Tony's suite. It harkened back to the days when the Avengers would have been referred to as Steve's pack and answered his need as Alpha to see them all before they went their separate ways. Lunch tended to be an individual or couple thing, while dinner was Bruce's domain. During his years on the run he'd lived in more than a few places without fast food or microwave dinners, so he knew how to cook, even found it relaxing, so when he was there, they all gathered in his suite. It was more in the name of those routines than the need to make Tony squirm for another hour or so that Steve had JARVIS tell anyone else awake to come up for their usual breakfast.

A few minutes later Natasha, Clint, Thor and Jane walked in. "I returned to Midgard but a few hours ago," Thor said as they sat at the table. "I trust all went well with your quest?"

As far as Steve was concerned the days of classified assignments had ended with the birth of the Avengers. Fury hadn't been pleased but Steve had held firm – what one Avenger knew (including loved ones who were all SHIELD consultants) they all knew and if Fury wanted it otherwise he needed to find others to do the assignment in question. Coulson had backed him, not Fury.

He nodded to Natasha to tell the tale while he finished the eggs and bacon. Clint manned the toaster. Even with his back to the entrance, he felt Tony enter the room and a slight tension inside him eased. He'd decided long ago that hardwiring of an omega needing his alpha went both ways and the rest was all bullshit to make the omega sound more dependent. He smiled when his mate made a beeline for the coffeemaker, and gave Tony a kiss as he handed him his mug.

As usual, having caught each other up on anything missed, they all discussed their plans for the day and pretty much agreed they had none beyond decompressing from the last few days. "Sounds like a take-out and movie night," Clint said, and they all left agreeing to gather in Thor's lounge area at 7 in the evening.

Once they were alone, Steve looked at Tony. "Tell me what you did wrong."

"I was too close to being done to stop!" Tony burst out, an indication he'd been holding that in since he woke up and discovered his alpha had caught him disobeying.

Steve waited, leaning back against the kitchen counter.

Tony huffed. "I promised I would sleep and eat properly and I didn't." The right answer so Steve let him get away with the pout that followed. Besides Tony was on the adorable side when he pouted so Steve could never quite mind it as much as he should.

Still they had to talk about this. "Baby, I need to know you'll be okay when I can't be here."

Tony was quiet for a minute or so, then he answered, "I nap and Dummy makes me smoothies."

Steve gave him a look. "JARVIS said you didn't eat."

"He can be pedantic about word choice sometimes. I drink smoothies, not eat them, and you know as well as I do they have all the nutrition in them I need."

He sighed. Yes, he did. He was old-school about it though. Eating meant a proper meal not something poured out of a blender, but he'd read the book Tony had given him about the darned green smoothies and had learned to make them for him as well as tolerate them. "Fine, but you passed out in your workshop." Tony had a damned mini-apartment down there for crashing in, but he hadn't even had the energy to get up and walk twenty feet to a proper bed.

"I was almost done. You know I can't stop working when I get to that point."

Yes, he did. At least not without Steve hauling him away. He sighed. He either loved the man – aggravating qualities and all – or he didn't, and he really did. "What were you working on?"

Knowing that meant he was off Steve's 'shitlist' Tony brightened, then he smiled. "I'm not certain. I think I need a knot in my ass to help me remember."

Steve rolled his eyes, but he still collected his omega and carried him to the bedroom.

*

It took Tony a few minutes to stop drifting to the sweet pulse of his alpha's seed filling him, then he focused on Steve's face. He loved the way his alpha looked at him when they were knotted. Like Tony was the only thing that mattered in the whole world which was why he had to say what needed to be said without hurting Steve with false hope.

He leaned up and kissed him. "What I'm working on, it's a temporary measure." It was strange how knotting worked. There was the wild sex, the sky high orgasms and mind-blowing connections – all as advertised in every romance novel in existence – but a good chunk of it was the sustained pulse of seed-into-womb, a happy buzz and .. a lot of really mundane 'how was your day, honey?' conversation. "As in it will be used for a time, then put away not to be used again. I need you to understand that because you're going to want it to be permanent, but no. Just no."

Steve frowned. "What were you working on?"

Tony braced himself mentally, then said, "An Iron Man drone. One I can control remotely from here."

It didn't surprise him when Steve pulled him up off the mattress and held him so he was looking over his alpha's shoulder instead of at a face he knew had to be contorting with joy and hope. What Tony had created was probably Steve's favorite fantasy – a way for Tony to stay an Avenger, but safe at home. And he _knew_ the damned thing's existence was going to make it all the harder for Steve to let him put on the suit. So he clung to his beloved alpha and let him struggle to hide how much he wanted what Tony had already told him he couldn't have. He decided more words instead of silence was the way to go at this point. "We'll still need War Machine to sign on while I use it. Best I'll be able to make the thing do is long-range fighting and aerial reconnaissance. That's not even close to a good substitute for what I can do when I'm in the suit."

Steve nodded, a faint motion against Tony's cheek, but an acknowledgement of how important Iron Man was to the team. "Why … why did you build this?" Why would Tony do this to him was probably what he'd wanted to ask. He shivered suddenly and held Tony closer. "Are you all right? Is your reactor acting up again?"

Damnit, he should have known Steve would go there. Never should have told him about the palladium poisoning incident, but they had this annoying no-secrets policy. "I'm fine, I'm fine. But … Steve, I want to have a baby."

Steve went very, very still. Tony didn't even think he was breathing so his next words came out in a rush of air, "A baby?"

Wanting to see Steve's face, he pushed against the broad shoulders, and his husband took the hint lowering him back down to rest on the mattress and pillow. "Yes, a baby. Our baby." He brushed his thumb along Steve's lower lip. "I'm sorry, I know what the drone's existence will do to you, but even I'm not dumb or stubborn enough to go into battle pregnant."

He could see a bellow of 'absolutely not, I forbid it' wanting to burst through Steve's lips even though Tony had already said it wasn't an issue and he had to smile. "The two of us could have the most incredible child." He let the fantasy spin in his head. His brains and Steve's looks, vice versa or a combo of all, the kid couldn't go wrong, "but –"

"It probably won't be a totally human."

No. Steve's DNA had been altered by the super-soldier serum. Tony's had spent years assaulted by substance abuse, topped off by heavy metal poisoning and the continued use of a mini-reactor in his chest. Whatever else their child would be, completely human wasn't a likely outcome. And then there was the other problem. Tony. "I'll be a terrible father," he admitted the truth of every scathing comment about his ability to raise a child. But Steve? He would be a wonderful parent and Tony ached to see it. "You'll have a lot to compensate for."

Steve's 'I swear to God I will find a way to resurrect Howard Stark so I can kill him with my bare hands' look settled into place right on time. "No, I won't because you'll be there with us both every step of the way."

Tony figured his being there was the problem not the delightful outcome, but he never had and knew he never would win an 'I'm dirt' argument with his alpha. "So, baby?"

"Yes."

*

The wedding was beautiful, not that Steve expected anything less between Pepper's exquisite taste and Tony's money, but as gorgeous as everything was, he couldn't help thinking the true beauty of it was the genuine depth of love filling the cathedral. Love of mates, of friends, of family and those who were like family -- the place fairly vibrated with it. And joy.

The reception in the Café was full of laughter and merrymaking that never spilled over the top into embarrassing incidents despite the open bar. Instead everyone enjoyed everyone else. Steve danced with every beta and omega as well as female-alpha in attendance. Heck, he even took a turn around the floor with Thor (a god got to lead) and Phil (his day so he got to lead.) Couldn't seem to stop grinning and neither could anyone else.

"And the best part," he said as they walked back into their Tower suite at the end of a glorious evening, "is that we have officially seen the happy couple off and made it home without a single villain showing up."

Tony made a humming sound. His omega had been practically floating on air since he'd walked Pepper down the aisle, but it wasn't totally a sound of agreement. "I admit Doom not crashing the party was a plus, but the night is still young, oh, Capsicle mine," he said, shedding his tux in a careless manner totally at odds with how much the thing cost.

Steve frowned. "Tony, pick-" he started, but trailed off as his naked mate reached behind himself and pulled. A soft pop heralded a plug falling to join the tux on the floor. It looked different than the one Tony normally wore to drive Steve crazy, and he hadn't even told him he was wearing it instead of teasing him to distraction. His frown deepened because he liked being teased to distraction.

Tony smirked. "It's a special one designed for the omega who doesn't want to get bred in the middle of his best friend's wedding ceremony."

Bred – the word registered a split second before Steve caught Tony's scent. Heat. Tony's heat had finally set in. Steve was across the room and had Tony pinned on the bed before he'd finished processing the thought. He'd have been buried inside him up to his knot, too, if his damned trousers weren't still in the way.

Tony's eyes danced with mirth as Steve all but ripped them off, then tossed them aside. "Don't you want to hang those up? They cost mmph-"

Kissing Tony had always been the most effective way of shutting him up, and Steve had enough presence of mind to do so, but his skin burned like it was on fire and his cock dripped with need.

Silenced, but far from docile, Tony lifted his legs, shifted his hips and arched, his hole drawing Steve almost like a magnet. The moves were the same -- slide in up to the knot; thrust until he had his mate crazed for it; then a few fast, shallow thrusts to work it in; and seal them together leaving his seed to bathe Tony's insides for a good half-hour. Yes, all exactly the same, except for the intense scent of his mate and both of them knowing Tony would leave the bed with their baby growing in his womb.

Steve knew there had been more uncertainty in the timing back before humans had evolved enough for heat to be voluntary allowing beta-females and omegas to broadcast when they were fertile. And God, Tony smelled good. He drew in a deep lungful of his mate's scent and his hips thrust harder, his cock plunging into Tony almost with enough momentum to knot them.

Tony's back arched and he cried out, coming for the first time even as Steve backed off enough so the final breaching would not be an accident. Soon, very soon, but he wasn't ready to relax into breeding him yet, still wanted the pleasure of thrusting and clutching versus the humming ecstasy of Tony's inner walls milking him of every drop of seed.

His omega's hands gripped his shoulders, those hungry walls shuddering around him in another release as Tony's big, beautiful eyes watched him with an intensity that suggested he was memorizing every detail, every twitch, every sigh. "I love you," Steve moaned. "God, Tony, so much."

Sweat stung his own eyes and his breathing bordered on panting as he tried to keep his rhythm, tried to deny his body what it ultimately wanted because he, too, wanted it to last, wanted to remember everything.

Tony kissed him, his arms wrapping even tighter around Steve's shoulders. "Love you, too," he sighed as their lips parted and another orgasm shuddered around Steve's cock. "Now breed me."

Yes, it was time. His hips shifted into the shallow, rapid thrusts that popped his knot into Tony's body, sealing them together.

"Steve!" Tony cried out, arching up in a last powerful climax as the hot flood of seed began to flow. They were so in sync Steve knew the last shudder of Tony's release would precisely match up with the last of his own thirty minutes from now. Unlike other times, they didn't talk. Instead they clung to one another, exchanging lazy kisses and gazing into each other's eyes while their bodies made their child.

*

Tony woke up around dawn with Steve spooned up behind him. For once it seemed he'd managed to wake up before his husband, but he had no desire to move. Instead he listened to the sound of Steve's steady breathing and let himself know he was pregnant. Even if it had been a statistical impossibility, Tony would have known anyway. He felt … different. He supposed eventually he'd describe it as a sense of not being alone in his body, but it was too soon for that. Instead he decided it was like his body was whirling with creation akin to when his mind latched onto a new idea. Yes, he liked that. A creative genius in both mind and body. He hummed happily and Steve's arms tightened around him.

"Morning, baby," he whispered, nuzzling Tony's neck.

"No, I'm Tony," he answered, shifting Steve's hand to his belly. "This is baby."

Steve chuckled, his hand gently caressing Tony's abdomen. "No, I think you're always going to be my baby, too."

Tony wrinkled his nose. "That's disgustingly sentimental."

"What can I say? You bring it out in me." He hugged Tony again. "Even if you are a naughty omega."

Tony put on his best 'who, sweet innocent me?' look which was totally wasted since the far wall wasn't going to fall for it. Of course, Steve never did either. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

A snort answered him because Steve was even smarter in the wiles of Tony Stark Rogers than the wall. "Timing your heat for the day of the wedding? That ring a bell?"

He smirked and shifted so he was on his back, looking up at Steve. "One anniversary to remember instead of two."

Steve nodded. "Very practical. Especially since you're so bad at remembering important dates."

Tony echoed the nod because it was true and he'd never even tried to deny it.

"And it had nothing whatsoever to do with you wanting to tease Pepper and Phil about the shared date."

He tried for the innocent look again but Steve continued to look amused. "Okay, so maybe that had somet-" Steve's eyebrow rose, "a lot to do with it, but when I'm all big and round and worried you won't love me when I look just like a whale, it'll give me something to laugh about."

"I'll always love you," he answered, then kissed him. It led to more. Much more. But they still got up in time for breakfast with the others.

**Three Months Later**

"Good morning, sir," JARVIS greeted him as Tony stepped out of the shower and pulled a towel off the warming rack.

"Morning," he answered gliding the fluffy blue cloth over his body while he stared at his stomach. Before leaving their shared shower to make breakfast, Steve had insisted Tony was starting to show, but he wasn't certain. He knew some did at three months, but he thought the softening of his own abs might have more to do with an increased fondness for chocolate chip pancakes than the baby.

"I'm happy to report Young Sir continues to develop normally."

He let a sigh of relief go and stopped his inner tirade about the evils of when delicious batter, chocolate and maple syrup teamed up. It had been part of his routine since the baby had been conceived. JARVIS scanned the fetus while Tony showered, but was instructed not to say anything until Tony was alone. He knew Steve would be furious when he figured it out, but Tony had decided he would need time to process any bad news before helping his husband deal with it. Fortunately the news had all been good. No, they didn't expect the baby to grow up without some sort of mutant power manifesting, but right now all they needed to know was would it be healthy. And … wait. "Did you say 'Young Sir?'" Normally JARVIS referred to the fetus as Baby Rogers despite all of Tony's efforts to encourage 'Mini-Cap.'

"Yes, Sir. My scans have determined the fetus is male."

"Margin of error?"

"None, Sir." The AI sounded affronted as if he were being compared to something as primitive as a sonogram and okay, maybe Tony had done some work on fetal monitoring that might, probably, all right, would revolutionize it, but he was still unwilling to run out and tell everyone false news. And he might of, sort of, had kind of wanted a girl. "I am not in the habit of relaying incorrect data." Wait for it. "Unless you force me to."

Right. So Baby Rogers was Baby Boy Rogers. Oh, wow, they were having a real kid! "Steve!" he yelled heading for the door.

In his excitement he'd forgotten about the super-hearing part of Steve's upgrade so his husband had actually heard his shout and burst into the bedroom before Tony even cleared the bathroom threshold. The others were behind their leader, all looking worried and ready to attack anything that had dared threaten their omega.

"Tony! What?" Steve demanded, pulling his still half-damp and definitely naked body into his arms while the others set up a fucking perimeter in their bedroom. Alphas and betas. There was no getting them to calm down.

He rolled his eyes, but decided being loved too much wasn't the worst thing anyone had endured, so he simply burst out with his news. "It's a boy! The baby! JARVIS says he's a boy!"

Steve blinked, transitioning from 'protect!' mode to his own 'oh, wow' moment. A huge grin broke out on his face and there was cheering and claps on the back and a lot of talking to his stomach to say hello while everyone totally ignored the whole naked thing. And yeah, really good morning.

*

Because Tony was a man of principle when it came to giving credit where credit was due, but also had at least a potential handle on the 'responsible parent' thing big enough to not expose a defenseless, unborn child to 'fair and balanced reporting,' Tony insisted he and Steve announce the pregnancy on _The Daily Show._

But he sent Steve fucking Doocy and 'friends' a huge fruit basket. The card read, _You're right, he will be a wonderful father._

end


End file.
